Get your Johnnie's Fix now! [Italian Beef]

Just had my weekly fix and found that Johnnie's will be closed for vacation for 2 weeks beginning Feb. 4.

Johnnie's Beef
7500 W North Ave
Elmwood Park, IL
708-452-6000

Damn, now where am I going to take my wife for Valentine's Day dinner?

Seriously, though, thanks for the heads up!

Elmwood Park, Arlington Heights or both?

=R=

Only know of Elmwood Park, I didn't even know they had a store in Arlington Heights.

I'm curious about the AH store too. The reason they close for the same 2 weeks every year is legend has it that Johnnie has a timeshare in Acapulco, now since he's mainly at the AH store, I really do wonder if they close too.

I've lived in Elmwood Park for 40 years (just a couple blocks away from Johnnies) and I just love to see the line on this first day back of their vacation. I've seen it past the alley. We always get Johnnies on the first day back. The food can't get any fresher than that.

For those that don't know about the closing, Spizzico's across the street is opening their burrito joint (on the 75th Ave side) during that time. Smart marketing if you ask me.

EdisonParkGuy wrote:Johnnies hasnt had a decent beef since the 80's. I stopped going there years ago.

If you stopped going there years ago, how would you know? (I was there on Sunday and it was as good as ever)

tapler wrote:

EdisonParkGuy wrote:Johnnies hasnt had a decent beef since the 80's. I stopped going there years ago.

If you stopped going there years ago, how would you know? (I was there on Sunday and it was as good as ever)

good catch tapler,

Although Johhnie's beef sandwiches are small, they are still one of the better beefs in chicagoland.

EdisonParkGuy wrote:Johnnies hasnt had a decent beef since the 80's. I stopped going there years ago.

I have no idea what they were like in the 80s, but if they're better than they are now, wow. Johnnie's and Chickie's are my #1-#2 combo for beef in Chicagoland.

EdisonParkGuy wrote:Johnnies hasnt had a decent beef since the 80's. I stopped going there years ago.

Obviously, many of us would disagree with you here -- I do like Max's, but I don't believe it compares to Johnnie's. And please, this isn't Metromix . . . you don't need to bash Johnnie's in every one of your posts (especially when you acknowledge you haven't visited it in years), unless you do not desire credibility.

EdisonParkGuy wrote:I have eaten at more beef joints in this city than you will ever wish to.

LOL . . . well, then you must be right

=R=

EdisonParkGuy wrote:I gave Johnnies a shot last Summer and it was a small very bland beef. I could care less you you don't take me seriously, I have eaten at more beef joints in this city than you will ever wish to.

I think you seriously underestimate the obsession of many LTHers.

Max's has done pretty well on our Beefathon's. At the last one, I believe it finished fifth behind Johnnie's, Chickie's, Al's, and the Patio. Obviously, your opinion is different. So is mine. I wouldn't put Al's in the top four. But as an average in tastes across the board, this is what we came up with.

EdisonParkGuy wrote:Johnnies hasnt had a decent beef since the 80's. I stopped going there years ago.

That's OK, nobody goes there anymore because it's too crowded.

Kman wrote:That's OK, nobody goes there anymore because it's too crowded.

I do love that line, and it is so true.

I guess there are two ways to view places that are really popular - either their reputation and marketing in whatever form are strong enough that people will go regardless of what they serve, or else there must be something good going on there since so many people like it.

I reserve the right to hold both opinions, simultaneously at times. Frontera Grill and CT probably still serve pretty good food and everyone should try them, but I am not planning on going back to either any time soon because I believe there are many other places that serve food that is as good and interesting in similar styles, often less expensive, and I do not have to deal with the crowds. But I believe they are both very good.

I have had the ur-beef at Johnnies, a beef do deep and rich in flavor that it almost defies description and all other beef sandwiches pale in comparison. It was as if someone had extracted the essence of beef from 500 beef sandwiches and injected it into my sandwich, then seasoned it perfectly to highlight that rich, intense beefiness. I have also had good, but not spectacular, beef sandwiches there, if never a bad one. All beef places vary, it seems, some batches being better than others and I am okay with some variations in seasoning and in the meat.

The place I have found to be most consistent, if not as good as the best of Johnnies and Chickies, is Al's. Their beef is not to everyone's taste with its strong herby flavor (I believe the consensus is that they use fennel seed), and by itself it is not to my taste either, but in a sandwich with their giardinera it comes together very well for me.

The part that confuses me here is that this is the first time I have ever, ever heard anyone call Al's bland. There are a couple of places that use lots of garlic or garlic powder, but aside from them, Al's is about the most herbed-up beef around (okay, most days Chickie's has a sort of paprika thing going on, too, so add them in the spicy mix). Generally people who dislike Al's do so because they object to the strong herbal flavor, not its blandness.

BTW, I had a good LTH day last Friday - I was in the loop picking up a brisket to smoke on Saturday and decided after some consideration to run by Al's for a beef since I was in the neighborhood. My first thought was to head to Chinatown for some noodle soup, but it was a little before 11 and I thought Al's would be faster and I could get back out to work.

While I was eating in Al's I got a call from SteveZ asking if I wanted to join him for lunch at Katy's. Facing the promise of the best noodle soup and excellent company, I whined that I was eating already. He suggested a light lunch at 1p, which I happily accepted. Not sure how light it was, but I got my beef sammy, my pork with pancakes and my beef tendon soup with fresh Chinese noodles.

A damned good day.

dicksond wrote:
The part that confuses me here is that this is the first time I have ever, ever heard anyone call Al's bland.

FWIW, it was Johnnie's that was called bland, not Al's. I'm not a fan of Al's partly for the reason you stated: it's too herbed up. (The other part is the sandwich is much too small for the price, but that has no bearing on whether it's a good beef sandwich or not, at least to me.)

As far as the fennel thing is concerned, I know I just read a post on here that swore the flavor was tarragon. I'm still convinced it's fennel, but they're both in that anise-flavor ballpark.

dicksond wrote:. . . While I was eating in Al's I got a call from SteveZ asking if I wanted to join him for lunch at Katy's. Facing the promise of the best noodle soup and excellent company, I whined that I was eating already. He suggested a light lunch at 1p, which I happily accepted. Not sure how light it was, but I got my beef sammy, my pork with pancakes and my beef tendon soup with fresh Chinese noodles.

A damned good day.

An understatement, really.

=R=

dicksond wrote:I have had the ur-beef at Johnnies,

What's an "ur-beef?"

Cogito wrote:

dicksond wrote:I have had the ur-beef at Johnnies,

What's an "ur-beef?"

"Ur-" is a German prefix that basically translates to something like "original, ancestor of all," etc. I'm assuming it means in this context something like "the beef from which all other beefs come"; the archetypal beef.

Err, OK, thanks Bink.

I don't think Johnnie's is much (if any) smaller than Al's* regular beef and about a buck cheaper!

* Any reference to Al's by this poster is based on the only real Al's which is located on Taylor St.

Binko wrote:[ Johnnie's and Chickie's are my #1-#2 combo for beef in Chicagoland.

I agree with that.

I have tasted the Ur-beef, and it was good.

dicksond wrote:The place I have found to be most consistent, if not as good as the best of Johnnies and Chickies, is Al's. Their beef is not to everyone's taste with its strong herby flavor (I believe the consensus is that they use fennel seed), and by itself it is not to my taste either, but in a sandwich with their giardinera it comes together very well for me.

Last year, we had the pleasure of introducing some out-of-town visitors to Chicago-style hot dogs and Italian beef. (Because of the logistics, we wound up at Parse's, place I'd never visited before. The dogs were natural-casing Vienna and the beef was decent, not up there with Johnnie's or Al's, but pretty good.)

My friends, no fans of spicy food, were dubious about the giardiniera, and even the gravy, and insisted on getting their beef with everything on the side. But I ordered one dipped with hot and made them try it, saying, "An Italian beef sandwich is more than the sum of its parts."

After tasting mine, they quickly assembled theirs into the proper style.

Parse's Red Hots
7049 W. Higgins Ave., Chicago
(773) 763-9693

Johnnie's Elmwood Park will be closed for their annual 2 week vacation beginning Monday Feb2.

Most considerate of them to time their vacation to exactly coincide with mine!

Stopped by yesterday to grab some sammies to join My Bride at her work during lunch to watch the inauguration.

Fantastic as usual although I now have to order two due to their smallish size. The sausage had a great char flavor and the grease in the gravy really makes it.

You can always stop by this place. It's just a hop, skip and a jump from Johnnie's

viewtopic.php?p=2546#p2546

Are you kidding, or are you serious?

Panther in the Den wrote:Stopped by yesterday to grab some sammies to join My Bride at her work during lunch to watch the inauguration.

Fantastic as usual although I now have to order two due to their smallish size. The sausage had a great char flavor and the grease in the gravy really makes it.

That's just my excuse for ordering my old standard of a beef and a combo from my high school years

Anyway, Johnnie's will be closed for 2 weeks this year beginning Feb 1.

No particular reason, but it had been quite a while since my last Johnnie's Italian Beef. After last nights combo lucky if I last a week without a return.



In looking at the picture of Johnnie's combo I realize it is completely polarizing, either you see delicious beauty or a hot disgusting mess.

I like combos at Johnnie's, and Al's for that matter, as they charcoal grill the sausage. My technique is to open the sandwich eat the sausage first then add more giardiniera and eat the thoroughly soaked beef sandwich.

Johnnie's Combo w/giardiniera and a side of bunch tamales



Enjoy,
Gary

I'm an Al's on Taylor loyalist through and through, but I still make my way to Johnnie's 2-3 times a year, often on the way to Hala Kahiki. I can usually put down 2 sandwiches in one sitting here - most often a beef and a combo. I generally think the combo is the way to go at Johnnies - I've always found the beef to be a touch bland on its own. But on my most recent trip a month ago, the beef stood tall. A friend agreed that it seemed more flavorful than usual. Even with Al's in close proximity to where I live, Johnnie's is always a worthwhile trip, as much for the experience as for the food.